Lots of good stuff here, honestly. First, TRD by its own admission needs to build a fast motor that the drivers can beat the hell out of. They have gone on record as saying just that. Second, their success will be defined by the happiness and success of their drivers. They know that. Kyle Busch will not bitch about the motors if they stay together and are fast as hell. Third, TRD never passes the buck or blames its drivers. Fourth, if TRD has another year like last one, Toyota USA will get very, very impatient. Contrary to common misperception, Toyota Japan isn't the driver here. They like the exposure of being in NASCAR and are not yet driven by the Championship IMO. That will change, but not just yet. Toyota is still new to this NASCAR game. However, Toyota USA is a different matter, and their patience is wearing thin. Another year like last year, and jobs could be on the line. Make no mistake....winning the Daytona 500 would be huge for TRD and stem the pressure a bit.
I love my Toyotas and TRD because they have the balls to assume all responsibility even when clearly there should be some sense of shared responsibility. If they were whiners and complainers, this board would be unbearable for me as it should be. Bottom line for me is that I do not believe that TRD is in the dire straits many suggest. They are close if not exactly where they need to be to contend. JGR and MWR were out to lunch with set ups last year, and TRD took the hit on the engine front because if you are crap center, you better have unreal motor off. Nobody had the motor that JGR needed to offset the junk they were in handling. Not even Hendrick.
On a related front....this absolute crap about Toyotas sharing information... You are asking for something that doesn't happen with any other manufacturer. It is easy to say that they should share, but what does that mean? JGR builds stuff for MWR? MWR for JGR? Sims? Chit chat? Hendrick shares with Hendrick. RCR with RCR, etc. The expectation that many in the media have in relation to Toyota is as unique as the TRD relationship with its teams. JGR isn't going to give MWR jack crap unless there is something in it for them. Hendrick gives and gets with SHR because they are a customer team. This is not the case with MWR and JGR. Would I like to see an open book, and have them operate as one? Maybe. What happens if a team steers the rest of the Toyotas into oblivion? Not good. That culture of sharing needs time. David Wilson spoke to this, and described it as a relationship developing organically--out of necessity instead of forced. TRD/Toyota is not going to ax half of its fleet because it doesn't do what it says. Chevy isn't expecting this of its teams. Ford was expecting it until Penske did what they wanted and became more successful than Roush.....yet Ford didn't cut Penske. There is a ton of misunderstanding and misperception because of the structure of how Toyota does business. Instead of paying JGR to build Toyotas for example, they allocate corporate resources to fund TRD. This makes them like a builder with a factory twist. As such, if TRD goes all builder on a team, and that team bolts, the program is screwed. Toyota cannot blame a builder for losing a customer because the builder has such a direct factory connection.
